Oral chinese herbal medicine for improvement of quality of life in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review

This study evaluates published clinical trials of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that employ a health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcome measure. Methods: Searches were conducted in April 2011 on MEDLINE(), Embase, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, CINAHL, Scopus, and Chinese databases (CNKI, CQVIP, WANFANG). Randomized controlled trials involving oral administration of CHM formulae or single herb, with or without blinding, compared to placebo, no treatment, routine pharmacotherapy control, or CHM plus routine pharmacotherapy versus routine pharmacotherapy, with a HRQoL questionnaire as an outcome measure were identified. The methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias assessment